Full Responsibilty

Recently, I went through my 2005 mountain bike season, mentally. I sat up straight, folded my hands in the most Buddhist fashion I could muster and found a quiet place to meditate. I learned a lot during this process. The first, and most obvious, was that days off are important. During many of the races, my legs would “blow up” as I hung desperately with the lead pack. The second lesson I learned was that I need to focus more on my diet. Four large slices of pizza may not be the most effective pre-race cuisine. My final lesson was responsibility. I pictured a couple of loses. Walking up to my girlfriend, I would throw my bike to the ground, point at it and say “it is your fault.” My bike’s fault! At times, my bike has generated some problems, but overwhelmingly my failure is my own.

There is a lot of power in taking full responsibility for one’s actions. This simple act creates an empowerment during any situation where one has, or is, doing wrong. More recently, I competed in a 22.5-mile running race in Grand Junction. I have not trained enough to win a 22.5-mile running race. Thus, I set out with the goal of running at a strong pace with the understanding that I will NOT win. True to form, I did not win. However, I felt good about my performance. Hell, I could have run the race faster than I did. The point of this exercise was that I enjoyed the race and took full responsibility for losing…

I’ve noticed that many of our politicians do not share this same sort of “owning up” when they are caught in the act…